Railway-traffic-controlling apparatus



Feb, 12,1929.

H. A. THOMPSON RAILWAY TRAFFIC CONTROLLING APPARATUS Filed Aug 11, 1926rails in parallel, and the train is provided Patented Feb. 12, 1929. a

HOWARD VA. THOMPSON, or ED'GEWOOD UNION SWITCH 8!: SIGNAL COMPANY,

POBATION O1 PENNSYLVANIA.

nonoueir, rENNsYLvANIA, AssIeNoB TO rim or SWISSVALE, riiNnsYLvANrA, Acoin RAILWAY-TRACE]?IC-GONTROLLING.VAPPARATUS.

A l cation filed August 1 1, 1922;, Serial No. iasgsas. r

My invention relates to railway traflic controlling apparatus, andparticularly to'apparatus of the typecomprising train carried governingmeans controlled by energy received from the trackway.

In at least one form of railway traffic con-" trolling apparatus whichhas hitherto been suggested track circuit current is supplied to therails in series from a point in advance of the train and loop current issupplied to the with governing means responsive tothe track circuitcurrent in advance of the forward axle on the train and to the loopcurrent in rear of such forward axle. One object of the presentinvention isthe provision, in apparatus of i this type, of novel andimproved means for supplying the track rails with such track circuit andloop currents.

I will describetwo forms controlling apparatus embodying my invention,andwill then point out the novel feag tures thereof in claims.

In the acoinpanying drawing, Fig.1isa

diagrammaticview showing one for nof railway traflic cont-rollingapparatus embody ilrq my invention. F g. 2 13 3, view illustrating amodified form of the apparatus shown in Fig. l and also embodying my in:vention. a

Siinilarreference characters refer to simi-r lair parts in both views.

Referring first to Fig, 1, the referencecharacters" 1 and l designatethe track rails of a stretch of railway traclrover which traflicnormally moves in the directionindicated by the arrow. These rails aredivided by means of insulated jointsQ, into a plurality offsuccessivetrack sections, A-B, BC,"etc. Each track section is provided with asource of. at

ternating track circuit current, here shown as a transformer designatedby the reference character T with an appropriate distinguishingexponent, and having its secondary 4 connected across the rails adjacentthe exit end of the corresponding section througha pole changer P whichis controlled by means to be described hereinafter. Interposedbetweenthe right-hand terminal of secondary 4 of each transformer T and theassociated pole chan er P is animpedance 37. The pri maryl 5 of eachtransformer T is constantly supplied "with alternating current from asuitable source such as an alternator M over line wires 3 and3. i J

, Each section isfurther providedwith a polarized track relay-designatedby thereference character It with a distinguishing exponent and havingtwo windings 6 and 7 Winding 6 of eachtrack relay is constantlyconnected across the railsadjacent the entrance end of the associatedsection, and wind- Each section" is provided with a trackway signaldesignated by the reference character. S with an exponentcorrespondingto the low cation a'nd'capable of indicatingproceed, cau tion or stop.In the form hereshown', each signal S is of the semaphore typeand islo'ing 7' of each relay R'is constantly supplied I with alternatingcurrent from line wiresQ3 cated adjacent the entrance end of the correfspondingsection. Referring particularly to signal S Wheirrelay'Risenergized in the reverse direction so that contact "lair- 14k isclosed, current is supplied to the caution cir cuit ofisignal S? fromline wire 3 and 3*, and i the signal indicates caution, When relay R isenergized in the normal direction, contact 1pm is closed and currentissupplied to the proceed circuit "of the signal from line wires 3 and 3so that the si'gi althen indicates proceed. When relay R isde-energized, however, both theproceed circuit and the can: tion circuitforsignal S are open and the r signal then indicates stop. I r g 7, I'Polechanger P is controlled bysignal S so that whenthe s gnal indicatescaution or pro ceed, the polechangercoccupies one-position a in whichtrack circuit currentof normal relative polarity is supplied to therails of section v A+B. When signal S indicates stop, however, polechanger P is reversed and track; c rcuit current, of reverse relativepolarity is supplied to the r'ails ofsection A-B.

of the remaining pole changers P isconj trolled "bythe signal next inadvance in-"thee saine manner as just described forthe control'of'polechanger' P by signal S 'fEach signal also controls a circuitcontroller desboard the train; I, Should the train attempt to entertheoccupied section to the right of rent track relays havebeen replacedwith polarized direct current relays also bearing the referencecharacters R. Current for con trolling these relays is supplied to therails of each section by a track battery designated by the referencecharacter G with a suitable exponent, which battery is interposedbetween secondary a of transformer T anda rail of the section. In placeof the reactance 8 of Fig. 1, a resistor 8 is connected across-the railsadjacent the entrance end of eachsection. A resistor is necessary inFig. 2 to prevent shunting of the adjacent track relay. The circuits forthe signal S will be apparent from the inspection of the drawing, thesecircuits being supplied with current from tel minals a and b of asuitable source of energy not shown in the drawing. The operation of theapparatus will be readily understood from the explanation of Fig. 1, theonlydifferences being that the track relays R and the auxiliary relays Kare responsive to direct current instead, of alternating current and areenergized by current from battery G instead of by currentfromtransformer T. Al-j ternating track circuit current, and alternatingloop current are supplied to the rails of each section forthe purposeofcontrolling the governing means on board the train byv transformer Tfor each section in exactly the same manner as 1n Fig. 1.

Although I have herein shown and described only two forms of railwaytraffic con trolling apparatus embodying my invention, it is understoodthat various changes and modifications may be made therein within thescope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scopeof my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: c

1. In combination, a stretch of ,railway track, a transformer theprimary of which is connected with a source of alternating electromotive force, means for reversibly connecting'the secondary of saidtransformer across the rails adjacent one end of the stretch, animpedance interposed between one terminal of said secondary and therails of the stretch, and means for connecting such one terminal of thesecondary with both rails adj acent the opposite end of the stretch.

2. In combination, a. stretch of railway track, a transformer theprimary of which is connected with a source of alternating electromotiveforce, means for reversibly con nectingithesecondary of said transformeracrossitherails adjacent. the exit end. of the stretch, an impedanceinterposedbetween one terminal of saidseconda'ryand the rails of thestretch, and means for connecting'such one terminalof the secondary withbothrails adjacent; the entrance end ofthe stretch.

In combination, a stretch of railway track, source of alternatingelectromotive force, means for reversibly connecting the source acrossthe rails adjacent the exit end of the stretch, an impedance interposedbetween one terminal of said source and a rail of the stretch, a relayconnected across the rails at an intermediate pomt in the stretch,

nieanscontrolled by said relay for at times connecting said one terminalof the. source with both rails ad acent the entrance end of the stretch,and train carried governing 'means controlled by energy in the trackrails.

In combination, a stretch of railway track, a source of alternatingelectromotive force, means for reversibly connecting the source acrossthe rails adjacent the exit end of the stretch, an impedance interposedbetween one terminal of said source and a rail of the stretch, a relayconnected across the rails at an intermediate point in the stretch, asecond impedance connected across the rails adjacent the entrance-end ofthe stretch, means including a front contact of the relay for at timesconnecting the mid-point of sand second impedance with c said oneterminal of the source, and train carriedgoverning means responsive tocurrents in the track rails in front of and in rear of the :lorwardaxlesof the train.

In combination, a stretch of railway track, a source of alternatingelectromotive force, means for reversibly connecting the .source'aressthe rails adjacent the exit end of the stretch, an impedanceinterposedbetween one terminal of saidsource and a rail ofthe stretch, meansresponsive to traflic conditions in advance or such stretch for at tnnesconnecting such one terminal of the source with both rails'adjacent theentrance end ofthe stretch, and train carried governing means controlledby alternating currents in the track rails in advance of thetrainaml in,rear of the forward axles of the train.

6. In'c'ombination with a stretch of track occupied'bya train, a sourceof alternating electromotivekforce; a first circuit including saidsource, a forward axle ofthe train and the rails of the stretch inseries ahead of the traing'a second circuit including said source, onerail of the stretch ahead of the train, aforward axle of the train, andthe rails'of the stretch in parallel in rear of the train, and governingmeans on the train responsive to currents in said two circuits. i

7. In con'ibination, a. stretch of railway track, a sourceof alternatingtrack circuit current connected across the rails adjacent stretch andresponsive to current from said source, means controlled by said trackrelay for at tunes connectrn'g szucl one termlnal oi the source withboth rails adjacent such 76p Positeencl of the stretch; and governingmeans on a tra'incontrolled by cui'refit sup- 1 piled to the'rzuls fromsuch source.

in testunony whereof I affix my srgnature.

. HOWARD A; THOMPSON.

